Boiling Point – “Trump’s Environmental Rollbacks Explained”

Host: Sammy Roth (LA Times Climate Columnist)
Guest: Hailey Smith (LA Times Environment Reporter)
Date: September 25, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode of Boiling Point dives deep into the wave of federal environmental rollbacks under the second Trump administration, with a focus on how these policies affect California’s climate ambitions. Host Sammy Roth interviews LA Times colleague and environment reporter Hailey Smith, who has been closely tracking the Trump administration’s actions on issues like offshore wind power, clean air rules, agency funding cuts, and the increasingly fraught relationship between Washington and California on climate and energy. The discussion ranges from specific regulatory changes to the broader chilling effect on scientists and state policy, with a special emphasis on what ordinary Californians can still do to push back.

Main Topics & Key Insights

1. Trump Administration’s Assault on Offshore Wind

[04:47–12:09]

• The Trump administration has sharply targeted offshore wind, issuing executive orders to halt all new leasing and reviewing legal grounds to terminate existing leases.
  • Hailey Smith: “On his very first day in office, [Trump] issued a memorandum halting all offshore wind leasing...and directed his administration to sift through existing leases and look for any legal grounds to terminate them.” [06:09]
• Recent federal funding cuts have stripped $427M earmarked for California offshore wind projects, but California is moving ahead thanks to state-level support and Prop 4's $475M for wind development.
  • “We are full steam ahead, even in spite of these federal challenges.” — Hailey Smith [08:20]
• California’s offshore wind goal: 25GW by 2045, to supply up to 25 million homes, requiring around 1,600 floating turbines—"as tall as the Eiffel Tower, but 20–50 miles offshore." [07:28–07:49]
• Because California’s offshore projects rely on floating (not fixed) technology due to the depth of the Pacific, they are several years behind the East Coast—a delay that may allow the state to do port/transmission work while waiting out the federal hostility.
  • Sammy Roth: “So the fact that we’re behind is actually maybe a good thing here.” [11:52]
  • Hailey Smith: “Yeah.” [11:55]

2. The Broader Pattern: Suppression and Retaliation Against Climate Action

[12:09–18:21]

• Trump officials are actively seeking legal means to cancel clean energy projects and federal grants, with wide uncertainty about the legal standing of these efforts.

  • Many sources (scientists, industry contacts) are afraid to speak on the record, fearing retaliation: “The first three or four sources I reached out to [for my story] did not want to talk on the record...they’re afraid of retaliation from the administration.” — Hailey Smith [13:36]

• The administration is weakening science and transparency, e.g., slashing the EPA's greenhouse gas reporting rules and releasing a “climate science” report authored by known contrarians and rejected by the majority of climate scientists.

  • “They handpicked these five well-known contrarian climate scientists who put out a report that dozens of...well established climate scientists said, hey, this is riddled with errors...downplaying the threat posed by climate change.” — Sammy Roth [14:57]
  • “If we delete climate change from the dictionary, then maybe that means it’s not happening.” — Hailey Smith [16:17]

• EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin: “We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion.” [16:29]

3. Major EPA Regulatory Rollbacks & Lowlights

[19:35–24:42]

• Endangerment Finding ([19:55]): Foundational EPA declaration (from 2009) that fossil fuel emissions harm human health/environment. Plans to repeal it threaten the basis of all further regulation—could cause the collapse of many environmental protections.
  • “If that crumbles, does everything that’s built upon it crumble as well? I guess we’ll find out.” — Hailey Smith [20:14]
• Pollution Exemptions ([21:27] onward): Relaxing rules for industrial pollution (e.g. mercury, ethylene oxide) and offering easy “exemptions” by email, with over 100 granted so far (including highly polluting facilities).
  • One group called the EPA’s mailbox for exemption requests “an inbox from hell.” [21:55]
• Motivation: Administration justifies deregulation as cutting ‘red tape’ and promoting ‘American energy dominance.’

4. California’s Clean Air Act Waivers and the Fight for Clean Cars

[28:44–32:31]

• California historically received EPA waivers to set stricter vehicle emissions rules and drive EV adoption, crucial given persistent air pollution.
• The Trump administration has moved to repeal these waivers (and block CA's gas car phase-out by 2035), triggering lawsuits likely headed to the Supreme Court.
  • “California wants to ban the sale of all new gasoline powered cars by 2035. So this could be a setback for those targets.” — Hailey Smith [31:05]

5. Federal Agency Cuts and California’s Disaster Vulnerability

[32:31–36:38]

• National Weather Service: Hundreds of staff/meterologist layoffs, undermining storm and wildfire warnings in CA.
• US Forest Service: Reduced budget and staffing, limiting federal wildfire response capacity on vast forestlands in CA.
• FEMA: Budget/staffing cuts, more disaster response burden shifted to states, despite the immensity of recent climate disasters.
  • “This would have to be a pretty big transition and not something you can just drop the ax on...” — Hailey Smith [35:50]

6. Project 2025: Blueprint for Rollbacks

[36:38–39:16]

• The conservative Project 2025 document outlined hundreds of rollback goals—now, a tracker shows the administration has already fulfilled 47% of all goals and 71% of environment or energy goals.

  • “Which would be a huge coincidence if they truly had no connection to or involvement with it whatsoever.” — Hailey Smith [37:57]

• National Lands: Administration has opened millions of acres of national forest for logging and is working to strike down the Roadless Rule, endangering wilderness protections.

7. Public Comments and Civic Engagement

[41:37–43:06]

• Many key rule changes (e.g., Roadless Rule repeal, Endangerment Finding) are open for public comment, with over a million responses for some proposals—virtually all opposing the rollbacks.
  • “The proposal to repeal the roadless rule has over a million public comments...all of them that I saw were in opposition.” — Hailey Smith [42:18]
• Sammy voices cynicism about whether public input changes outcomes, but Hailey argues it matters for the historical record:
  • “At least let it be seen in print and online that people did care... and that not everyone was on board with these changes.” — Hailey Smith [43:06]

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• “They are flooding the zone, Sammy. It’s working. I’m trying my best.” — Hailey Smith on staying on top of rollbacks [40:57]
• “There’s definitely a climate, no pun intended, of suppression going on here.” — Sammy Roth [14:38]
• “If we delete climate change from the dictionary, then maybe that means it’s not happening.” — Hailey Smith [16:17]
• “We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion.” — EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, as quoted by Hailey [16:29]
• “At least let the record show that we tried, right?” — Hailey Smith [43:06]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [04:47] Start of interview with Hailey Smith / Focus on offshore wind rollbacks
• [06:04] Trump admin’s unique hostility to wind; legal and funding attacks
• [08:20] How California is moving forward on offshore wind regardless
• [11:52] How project delays may help California despite federal antagonism
• [13:36] Climate of fear and retaliation among scientists/experts
• [16:29] EPA chief’s “dagger” quote, aligning with oil/gas donors
• [19:55] Endangerment Finding repeal explained
• [21:55] Pollution exemption “inbox from hell” described
• [28:44] Clean Air Act waivers—critical to CA, now challenged
• [32:31] Agency cuts: NWS, US Forest Service, FEMA, explained
• [36:38] Project 2025 and administration’s alignment with rollback blueprint
• [41:37] Public comments, engagement, historical record
• [43:06] Does public engagement matter? “Let the record show…”

Looking Ahead

• Many rule changes are still open to public comment—Hailey encourages engagement, even if the outcomes are uncertain.
• The mass rollback of environmental protections and suppression of science and agency capacity threaten California’s resilience to climate disasters and progress on clean energy and air.
• The administration continues rapid action on Project 2025 goals, with more rollbacks expected.

For Further Reading

• Project 2025 Tracker [mentioned at 37:42; link in show notes]
• Sammy Roth’s column on “energy dominance” [43:57; link in show notes]

Summary prepared for listeners seeking a thorough, clear overview of the episode’s key themes, policies, and insights—highlighting what’s at stake for California and beyond in this period of federal environmental reversals.